An in-depth review of the literature on ‘best practices’ for the prevention of early school leaving in schools with intercultural contexts

This report aims to provide the overall research findings on the best practices to prevent Early School Leaving (ESL) in European schools, and pays particular attention to the prevention practices used in Italy, Spain, Croatia, and Portugal. 

Eurostat defines ESL as leaving the formal school system before obtaining an upper secondary education degree for youth between the ages of 18-24. Embedded in this definition is the notion of educational failure which refers to leaving schooling without having acquired the compulsory education diploma (Fernández-Macías et.al, 2013).

ESL is a major concern within the European Union (Rambla, 2018; Rambla & Fontdevila, 2015). In 2009, more than one million students were already early school leavers (Cabrera, 2020).

In this report, ESL prevention and intervention policies will be mostly addressed under the idea of best educational practices in intercultural contexts and concepts used in ESL research, which have generally been agreed upon within the European Union and will be presented early on. The notion of best practices has been adapted from Montero-Sieburth’s culling of the research literature on best practices in education (Leithwood, 2008; Walberg & Paik, 2000).

The need for alternative and creative resources for students who are not physically in school has compelled schools to reassess

1. What schools can do to make sure students do not drop out in these moments when students

are not physically present in schools;

2. How teachers can continue to engage students;

3. How parents can be supported in their teaching at home and

4. What kind of quality education can be delivered.